OFSTED!!!!!!

So I haven’t written for a few weeks as it has been hectic yet good. I sent off my applications and got an interview at a beautiful school THEN we had the Ofsted telephone call and Ofsted were coming the day of my interview. The boss begged for me to change the date of my interview and so I did. I knew it would be an instant inadequate if a cover teacher took my class. The kids are monkeys and I have so many systems in place that it is tricky for a supply teacher. I have reward charts, star of the day, dinosaur of the day, marble jars, monitors, stickers and lots more...

I thought I’m not letting Ofsted get in between me and that job, so I prepared well. The interview went very well so I was gutted when I wasn’t offered the post. All that work for nothing! At least I’d lost out to a deputy head teacher. But it turns out the work wasn’t for nothing...they said I’d given such a good interview that they’d recommended me to another head teacher and I got a job at his school. It is not as ideal as what I applied for but it is definitely an opportunity. It was one of those moments when you realise everything has a purpose. I also realised how much head teachers talk as they knew so much about my current school too.

After my interview, I prepared like crazy for OFSTED. Then I waited and waited and waited....but they never came to my class. Then the next day I waited and they came for a maximum of 20 minutes and the kids were awful!!! One child even grabbed my boobs in front of the Ofsted inspector. Nothing like that had ever happened before and I expected an instant INADEQUATE. Luckily I got a good grading for my lesson-phew!!!  All that worry for 20 minutes!!! I deliver a lesson I deem to be crap and they say it was really good. Luckily I’m a teacher whose main concern is always the learning. Making things look good rather than making things work can make things tumble down before you. Lots of the teachers were upset to miss out on an ‘outstanding’ grading for their lesson. But do you really have to work your butt off to get an outstanding? I think the outstanding grading comes for the maximising of progress and learning. The inspector told me in my class, there could be more learning if the behaviour was better as the children did not always stop to listen immediately. That was fair enough I thought. There’s lots of discussion about what makes an outstanding lesson. My only concern is; once everyone is outstanding it will become the new satisfactory and that would be hard work.

Laters

Miss Phitt xx

APPLYING FOR JOBS – Academy or not academy? And saving pensions too...

I haven’t written for a bit because I have been in the full throw of filling out application forms. After many years out of playing this game, I found it was a much longer process than I anticipated -especially after my first full week teaching after so many days off. I didn’t really allow myself enough time and didn’t research as much as I would have liked or make my forms as impeccable and professional as I would have liked. It’s all a learning process and I know better for next time. Now is the time when most teachers look for jobs as we only have 2 weeks to give notice for a job starting in September.

The application forms were asking for full working history with no gaps and reasons for leaving. I am sure ‘reasons for leaving’ hasn’t appeared on my teaching application forms in the past. With a full working history of looking up my dates of pot washing and fruit picking, I knew that I would only be applying for jobs I REALLY REALLY wanted. ‘Reason for leaving’ can be a bit of a problem as there’s no way of making ‘got sacked’ look good even if it was 14 years ago; and how relevant is ‘pot washing’ to a teaching job? I get the kids to wash up. We will see how it goes because at the end of the day there is nothing wrong with the job I’ve got; it’s just that some days it seems like ‘existing and surviving’ rather than ‘enjoyment and excitement’.

After seeing the salaries available working in an academy, I began to do my research. Would I want to work in one? The answer is no. The academies are replacing skanky comprehensives and they look like something which has landed from Mars right on top of the comprehensive obliterating it. The unions are strongly anti-academy. I wondered why...it turns out there is no protection regarding teachers’ wellbeing and workload. Despite huge salaries being offered, they are not protected. They state that academies exist for monetary purposes not for the quality of standards in teaching and learning. They state the government wants to privatise schools so that they don’t have to pay for them.

Pensions

So after recalculating the way pension contributions are to be made, teachers will be making greater contributions for the same pension. I believe I would be paying £150 more per month for a pension I am expected to receive aged 68. £150 per month is quite useful to me so I am not contented to see it going on nothing. Most teachers too, have studied a minimum of 4 years so have substantial student loans to pay off. I have paid off my student loan which was probably due to me working 25 hours a week whilst doing a full time degree and the support of my parents, which not everybody has. However I do think this had an impact on the degree I got. Some of the teachers I work with have up to £25K student loan to pay off. After hearing of these increased contributions, I considered cashing in my pension but you can only do this within your first years of teaching. The NUT has a ballot to strike so that’s the action I will take. Our pay has been frozen, now pensions are threatened...if we don’t do anything what will be next? Take action and play with the pension loss calculator at http://www.teachers.org.uk/